


Shadows of the Past

by Crystallized_Shadow



Series: Naruto Rarepair Bingo 2019 [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Madara needs to open up more, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Tajima's A+ Parenting, lingering injuries from childhood, probably not medically correct, the reason behind Madara's gloves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-12 16:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19135741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crystallized_Shadow/pseuds/Crystallized_Shadow
Summary: Hashirama and Tobirama finally learn why Madara never takes off his gloves.





	Shadows of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to take part in the Naruto Rarepair Bingo over on tumblr and this is my entry for Hurt/Comfort

Uchiha were strange creatures to the Senju, that much isn’t new, and even all the years spent both at war and during peace hadn’t changed that. To Hashirama and Tobirama, the strangest one of them all was Madara; the Uchiha clan head had more ticks than a stray cat. The two brothers would often spend their free time coming up with crazy reasons for each odd quirk of Madara’s. Their favorite one to guess at was Madara’s refusal to ever remove his gloves, Hashirama hadn’t seen his bare hands since they were children. Hashirama’s theories were often childish, maybe Madara had really ugly fingernails, while Tobirama’s were often darker, perhaps the Uchiha was hiding a missing a finger and was too vain to let anyone know. The Senju brothers had tried unsuccessfully to ask Izuna, apparently Madara had picked up the habit shortly after the incident by the river and had never shared his reasoning.

It wasn’t until after the brothers had finally convinced the stubborn Uchiha to move in with them that they learned his reasoning. Even as the more realistic of the two, Tobirama is caught off guard by the story behind such an innocent article of clothing. The night in question had started out simple enough, it was Madara’s turn to cook dinner and Tobirama was forcing Hashirama to finish up the paperwork he’d tried to hide under his desk at the end of the day. None of them liked to bring work home, they rarely got a break from their duties, but this stuff was important and Hashirama really needed to learn better time management anyway.

“Fuck!” The snarled curse breaks Tobirama’s concentration and he’s in the kitchen before he even realizes he’s moving, Hashirama a few short seconds behind him.

“Madara?” Tobirama mutters, eyes following the blood trail to the sink, “what happened?”

“Hand slipped,” Madara grumbles, not bothering to turn around and look at either man, “I’m fine just go back to bossing Hashbrown around.”

“Madara!” Hashirama whines, hating when the two team up on him, “are you sure you’re okay? That seems like a lot of blood.”

“Let me see,” Tobirama insists, moving to Madara’s side as he ignores his brother’s whining. He gently grabs the Uchiha’s wrist as Hashirama moves to the other side so Madara can’t make a run for it.

“I’m fine!” The snapped words are ignored as Tobirama pulls the injured hand closer so he can inspect it. Unfortunately, the glove prevents Tobirama from actually seeing the wound and he yanks it off despite his partner’s protests. It’s only the sight the severely discolored skin that makes everyone pause.

“Madara…?”

Madara remains silent, his head ducked enough for his hair to block his face from view. Taking a moment to get past the shock, Tobirama frowns as he looks closer at the damage, taking in the faint tremor of the other’s hand as he does.

“These look like burns,” Tobirama mutters, making sure to keep his tone even and non-judgmental, “training accidents?”

It takes the Uchiha a long moment, but when he finally meets Tobirama’s eyes, the Senju knows these scars were no accidents. “Like most of my clan, I've always had a knack for fire,” Madara mumbles, his voice smaller than either Senju has ever heard it, “but I wasn’t an accident-prone child.”

“So, if they weren’t accidents…?” Hashirama questions, finally finding his voice again now that he desperately needs to know the truth. The fact that it’s also way past time Madara actually talked about the trauma is just a bonus for the elder Senju. The Uchiha doesn’t fight as Hashirama gently heals the relatively minor cut and leads him to the couch. Hashirama presses himself against Tobirama’s side as the younger Senju pulls Madara down so he’s seated in both their laps.

“I got in trouble a lot as a kid,” Madara admits as he settles more comfortably against his partners’ chests, “I thought the war was stupid and I was pretty vocal about it when Tajima forced Izuna to start fighting. Befriending a Senju was the last straw for my father, he cracked down on me and his punishments were severe.” Madara trails off as he stares at his hands. “Tajima used various methods to burn my hands before he’d make practice hand signs, beating me with his belt for each one I got wrong.”

“Those scars on your back?” Tobirama mutters and Madara nods with a frown.

“Depending on the method Tajima used, there were times I couldn’t move my fingers at all,” Madara admits, his gaze a million miles away as he speaks, “when that happened, he’d just beat me into unconsciousness. I took to wearing gloves because Izuna freaked out the first time he saw my hands.”

“How often did this happen?” Hashirama demands, his tone dark in a way that should scare Madara, but he’s too detached to feel much of anything at the moment.

“Couple times a week, unless I really pissed Tajima off, then it might happen every day,” the Uchiha states neutrally and Tobirama calms enough to realize Madara is zoning out. Drawing his brother’s attention, both Senju loosely wrapping an arm around Madara’s waist, resting their chins on the shoulder closest to them. They wanted Madara to know he’s not alone without startling him. “Right after that day at the river was the worst.”

“What happened?”

“He held my hands in the fire until my skin was blistered and bleeding, then he doused me in boiling water.” Madara lapses into silence for several long moments before he sighs and places his hands over the arms around him. “The clan healer was forbidden from helping me; he did the second Tajima was gone, but even he couldn’t do much. My hands hadn’t even healed before he shoved them in a pot of boiling water.”

“How can you even still use them?” Tobirama asks, shifting so he can gently cradle his Uchiha’s hands, “with all that damage the nerves should be dead.”

“It would be easier if they were dead,” Madara mutters with a frown, “a dead nerve can’t transfer pain. Depending on the day I have very little to no feeling in my hands, and on the days I can feel anything, the nerves just register pain.”

“I know how to heal nerves,” Hashirama points out as he places a chaste kiss on Madara’s cheek, “why haven’t you ever told me so I could help you?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Madara glances over his shoulder to glare at his hashbrown, “why would I want you to know I’m damaged?”

“You’re not damaged!”

“At least not anymore damaged than the rest of us,” Tobirama chuckles, his dark humor get the quickest twitch of a smile from the Uchiha, “seriously though, you should let Anija look at them; the longer the nerves are damaged the harder they are to heal.”

“I appreciate your concern, honestly I do, but I’m fine,” Madara insists, turning around into their laps so he can pull Tobirama into a kiss, “really, I am.”

Instantly knowing what his partner is doing, Tobirama pulls back and glares at him. “Madara you are constantly in pain; you are not fine.”

“It’s no one’s business besides my own,” Madara growls, glaring right back, “I hadn’t planned on you two finding out!”

“Do you think we like knowing you’re in pain?” Hashirama mutters, his eyes watering like someone just kicked his favorite puppy, “you are precious to us, I don’t like knowing you’re hurt.”

“Hashi….” Madara mumbles, anger deflating and leaving him feeling hollow. “I...I’m sorry…”

“This isn’t your fault Madara,” Tobirama says firmly, grasping Madara’s chin and forcing eye contact between the two because he needs Madara to understand this, “don’t you ever think for a second that needing to ask for help so you can live pain free is a weakness.”

Madara is silent for a long moment before he smiles shyly. “Tell you what, let me get drunk and then Hashirama can look at my hands; I refuse to deal with his inevitable blubbering while sober.”

“When you put it like that,” Tobirama chuckles, “I’m going to need a drink too.”

“Hey!” Hashirama huffs, “I’m not that bad!”


End file.
